Eli Merritt

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Unsparing in cataloging the challenges and threats confronting democracy today, this book is a source of hope and inspiration for all who care about preserving and strengthening our democracy.

—NANCY-ANN DEPARLE

Assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for policy for President Barack Obama (2011-2013)

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Americans and others around the world must join forces to protect democracy, and reading How to Save Democracy is a good place to start to fight back.

—JAMES RISEN

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia and the Kennedys—and one Senator's Fight to Save Democracy 

 

Merritt has performed an invaluable service: to hold the powerful to their word, while holding the rest of us—the people—responsible for protecting the best system of government yet devised. 

—JESSE WEGMAN

Member of the New York Times editorial board and author of Let the People Pick the President

 

How to Save Democracy is two-books-in-one: a collection of poetic quotations and simultaneously a how-to-save-democracy guide. Highly recommended for parents, teachers, activists, journalists, and nonprofits.

—MARTHA INGRAM

Former chairman of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust

 

How to Save Democracy captures the greatness and spirit of leaders from around the world who understand that the power of democracy is more than an idea—it is part of our very humanity. 

—DESMOND MEADE

Executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and author of Let My People Vote: My Battle to Restore the Civil Rights of Returning Citizens

 

Democracy is indeed a project of humanity, and achieving it is hard work and needs structure and inspiration. Eli Merritt provides both in great surplus. 

—NICK ZEPPOS

Chancellor emeritus and distinguished professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt University

 

Read How to Save Democracy and learn how to protect yourself, your family, and your democracy. 

—CONGRESSMAN JIM COOPER

U.S. House of Representatives (1983-95, 2003-23)

 

As Jimmy Carter once said, “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” These are the same ideals that suffuse How to Save Democracy and the ones we must return to in order to restore our magnificent democracy. 

—JIM FREE

Special assistant for congressional affairs to President Jimmy Carter (1977-81)

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Q&A for Eli Merritt on 

How to Save Democracy

 

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about the future of democracy since 2016. Why did you feel a collection of quotations from the Summit for Democracy was an important contribution to the literature?  

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Discussion has almost entirely centered on the dangers facing democracy: demagoguery, corruption, and authoritarianism. What is sorely missing from the conversation is poetic inspiration and guidance to citizens about how to get involved and how to make a difference. We have to inspire and motivate one another every day to keep up the fight for ethical, inclusive democracy, and that is what the world leaders did at the first Summit. In their speeches, they described concrete strategies for safeguarding democracy, but what most impacted me was the beauty and hope of what they said. The prime minister of Malta, for example, says in the book that democracy is “the greatest gift” ever bestowed upon humankind. The president of Switzerland characterizes democracy as the most important “revolution” to ever take place in world history. And the prime minister of Saint Lucia calls democracy “our cherished way of life” that we must defend together every day. Quotations like these—from all over the world—boost morale and unite us. They help us to stay in the fight for as long as it takes. 

 

At a time when our politics are so debased and full of vitriol, it’s easy to become depressed about the state of the country and world. Can you speak to the power of ideals and poetry to inspire citizens to hope and to act? 

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I can speak directly to the question of grief and depression based on personal experience. By chance, the first Summit took place during my father’s last months of life. I listened to the speeches of the leaders one by one between visits to his bedside, and I was still listening to them on January 6, the one year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol. I was grieving, really, over the loss of my father and the loss of our democracy, and I know that millions of other Americans are likewise grieving over what’s happening to our democracy. The quotations in the book inspire us to hope, purpose, and action. At the end of the Summit, Biden said that the year 2022 must be a “Year of Action.” Essentially, he and the other leaders were telling each of us to do something—do something concrete to strengthen the democracy you live in. So, I worked on this book. That was my action. 

 

HOW TO SAVE DEMOCRACY includes quotes from leaders of nations of all sizes and levels of geopolitical importance. What does it say about democracy that it’s treasured in such a breadth of countries?

 

For too long the discourse of democracy has been dominated by the leadership of the United States and Europe. But there are democracies of all sizes, races, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds from all four hemispheres. The Bahamas and Barbados are represented in the book. So are Belize, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Japan, Nepal, Samoa, Taiwan, and so many others. The Summit and the book represent the diversity that is democracy today—and democracy in the future. I was most inspired not by the speeches of the leaders of Europe and the United States, but by those from smaller democracies. Mia Amor Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, for example, said that the secret to success in a democracy is “seeing each other . . . hearing each other, and . . . caring for each other.” I think she’s right. Lincoln said something very similar in his 2nd Inaugural in 1865, when he called up Americans to love their fellow citizens and to live life with “malice towards none” and “charity for all.” 

 

This book is coming out just before the second Summit for Democracy, which will be co-hosted by the governments of the US, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea and Zambia and held on March 29-30, 2023. Why do you think these global meetings are vital? 

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The summits are organized around principles of advancing human rights and combatting corruption and authoritarianism both globally and domestically. One great value of the summits is what I discussed above: the inspiration and motivation they provide to us to get off our couches and take action. But there is another value that is equally important. We need to know what to do—how to get involved, where to get involved—and the summits answer that question too. At the first summit, leaders outlined many areas of intervention, including protecting voting rights, election integrity, truth in the media, and the rule of law; promotion of diversity and inclusion, civics and history education, economic justice, and climate justice. I consider that the summits, like the quotations in the book, are “both motivational and instructional.” That is, they communicate the two-part message, “Get involved. Here’s how.” 

 

Now that Trump and Bolsanaro both lost elections, do you think the tide has turned? Is the message of the book as needed now as it was just a few years ago? 

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The tide has not turned. Not at all. Our democracy and others are facing the triple threats of demagoguery, corruption, and authoritarianism, and if we do not “rise up” against these dangers, as Hamilton famously said in the musical, we are going to lose the battle. I want to reiterate this point. Silence and do-nothingism are a death sentence for democracy. Of all the warnings issued at the first Summit, the most frequently repeated was to beware of complacency—do not take democracy for granted, protect it every day, always be hypervigilant in defending it. Complacency is Enemy No. 1 of democracy. 

 

A theme throughout the book—both in the quotes and in your introduction—is the importance of imparting democratic ideals to younger generations. Why was it important to you to make this book accessible to readers of all ages? 

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I enjoy nothing more than speaking to young people about democracy. They are creative, interesting and curious. They are also the most important protectors of democracy—now and in the future. But they need our help. We have to hand down to them what my father, a federal judge and a lifelong defender of democracy, called “the spirit of liberty.” What that means is that we must raise our children from the cradle to understand the importance of liberty, equality, constitutionalism, and justice. These things have to be learned at a deep emotional level from an early age so that they remain passionate attachments and sources of conviction and courage throughout life. That is what it takes to preserve democracy. For this reason, I especially hope parents and teachers will take the quotations to heart—and then go on to role model democratic action. That’s how we pass down “the spirit of liberty” from one generation to the next.  

 

You have said that one value of the first Summit is the “concrete strategies” it provided for saving democracy. What is one strategy you can recommend to Americans for safeguarding our democracy?

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The first summit conveyed that Strategy No. 1 for saving democracy is “Constant Effort,” and the most important area of constant effort in a democracy is vigilance over the behavior and conduct of our government officials. Voting is only one duty of citizenship—the easy one. As important, we must watch over all three branches of government like hawks, demanding ethical and constitutional behavior from our public servants at all times. And whenever they fail in this regard, we must kick them out of office—vote them out; censure them; shun them; impeach them; take to the streets in protest and demand they be removed. This vigilant activity by citizens is so essential because democracy is most easily corrupted from the inside.     

 

If you had to point to one or two quotations from the book that best captures the message you want readers to take away from it, which would you choose?  

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The quotations that are the most powerful for me are the ones that tell us that we must fight for democracy every day—not only for ourselves but also for our children and grandchildren. 

 

I also love the one from Carlos Alvarado Quesada of Costa Rica, quoting Mexican poet Octávio Paz, who says that “a nation without free elections is a nation without a voice, without eyes, and without arms.”  

 

Another personal favorite is from Vjosa Osmani of Kosovo. She says that if history teaches us anything it is that “appeasement of autocrats never works.” We must stand up against them each and every day.